The present invention relates in general to skip rope apparata and in particular to handle and rope construction both as to their structure and material which permit a less-expensive and more easily utilized arrangement.
Skip ropes, or alternatively jumping ropes, do not entail an overly complicated construction. In fact, although the more "polished" designs utilize handles, small children will play the games of jump or skip rope using only a length of rope with the free ends of the rope serving as handles. The most apparent disadvantage with this simplistic construction is the fact that the rope has a tendency to twist and turn and does not provide a suitable means for grasping since the rope turns in the hands of the user. In an effort to overcome the twisting rope problem, various attempts have been made to construct the handles so that they permit the rope to turn while the handles remain stationary. Although there may be a wide variety of ways in which to construct handles which permit the rope to turn while the handle remains stationary, the criteria of low cost and ease of construction are important so that such skip ropes would be easily affordable by all who wish to keep fit by such an exercise technique.
The following listed patents disclose various skip rope handle concepts and attachment means, and while each of these references may in fact disclose a construction which at the time of conception was deemed to be novel, none of the disclosures are believed to be anticipatory of the present invention in that they do not provide the same type nor convenience of construction provided by the disclosure of the present invention.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 1,436,703 Fisher 11/28/22 1,508,300 Sacks 9/09/24 1,651,057 Goldstein 11/29/27 2,253,075 Johnson 8/19/41 4,101,123 Anthony 7/18/78 4,179,119 Wolf 12/18/79 4,201,382 Wilson 5/06/80 ______________________________________
Fisher discloses a rope handle construction wherein a wooden turned handle is arranged with a generally spherical recess into which a ball is placed such that the ball is larger than the recess opening. The rope for the skip rope is inserted into the ball and knotted at the back side. Thus, the rope may turn relative to the ball and the ball may turn relative to the recess. Consequently, adequate bearing surfaces are provided which enable the rope to twist while the handles remain stationary. Although the particular shape, contour and material choice would appear to be a disadvantage, a more significant drawback of this construction is the fact that the handle must be fabricated in two sections and then glued or otherwise secured together. This particular construction concept precludes the use of conventional piece part shapes and if the skip rope breaks, an entirely new handle must be constructed.
Sacks discloses a tassle construction and although this reference is believed to be of only limited relevancy to the present invention, it is to be noted that a longitudinal passage 11 is provided entirely through mold 6 and a cord 15 is adapted to be passed through the mold and knotted as indicated by reference character 16. This particular construction regarding how the cord is passed through the mold and knotted may have some relevancy regarding the methods of securing a skip rope to its corresponding handle.
Goldstein discloses a skip rope construction wherein the end of a contoured wooden handle is provided with a recessed void into which the rope and a shouldered bearing sleeve are fitted. The enlarged portion of the shouldered sleeve rides against the inside surface at the end of the handle and provides a bearing action for the turning or twisting rope. This construction thus prevents wear and attempts to reduce the frictional contact between the rope and the wood handle. Again, the construction of the wooden handle is quite specialized and the assembly concept does not permit the user of the skip rope to make that change at the time of initial purchase. A further drawback would appear to be the degree of security regarding the clamping of the rope into the recessed void of the handle since this is accomplished by means of the shouldered bearing sleeve, any additional force exerted upon the rope would have a tendency to pull or strip out the rope from the sleeve and thus defeat the entire construction.
Johnson discloses a skip rope construction wherein the disclosed wooden handles are completely hollow and include a shouldered or counterbore portion internally. This counterbore provides a shouldered surface against which any enlarged attachment to the free end of the rope will ride thus preventing the rope from pulling out of the handle. What is very definitely lacking by this construction is any suitable bearing interface between the turning and twisting rope and the handle. In fact, what occurs in that as forces are exerted on the rope, the pressure against the counterbored shoulder becomes greater, thereby increasing the frictional forces at this interface.
Anthony discloses a jump rope construction which includes a connection between the rope and a pair of handles which includes a ball bearing assembly. The ball bearing assembly includes the balls and race which are disclosed by earlier technology and a housing having an outer flange and an inner shoulder defining therebetween a handle recess. The construction still relies on a clamping action around the free end of the rope in order to provide an enlarged diameter shape which is prevented from pulling through the inside diameter of the bearing and thus stripping it out of the handle. As with the prior art references to Goldstein and Johnson, any arrangement which simply clamps a cylindrical sleeve member or washer around the rope and then attempts to have that enlarged diameter abut against a shouldered surface is not as effective as some more positive retention means. As a skip rope is utilized, there are those times when tripping on the rope may exert a significant force longitudinally along the rope, causing the rope to strip out of the handles. Consequently, any suitable concept for securing the rope to the handles must be very durable and very positive and it is not believed that these crimping sleeve constructions are adequate for that intended purpose.
Wolf discloses a skip rope which employs a wire rope in combination with wooden handles in an arrangement which permits the handles to rotate freely with respect to the rope. The wooden handles include an axial bore which has a central section of reduced diameter in which is mounted a metal peg by means of a bushing supported inside the handle pore. The peg protrudes from the handle and engages a rope-accommodating part through which the rope may be looped. While this particular construction may offset certain earlier disadvantages, its construction is quite specialized and incorporates a large number of piece parts, all of which must be properly sized, toleranced and assembled in order to achieve a working unit.
Wilson discloses a skip rope which includes an elongated flexible element having first and second end portions and handles attached to the end portions. Each of the handles includes a tubular hand grip which has a passage opening at the inner end of the hand grip and a tubular retainer in the passage opening of the tube. The first end portion of the flexible element extends through the tube and is attached to a bearing. The bearing is retained in the passage opening of the hand grip between the outer end of the retainer and the transverse wall of the hand grip. Again, this particular construction relies on a ring crimped around the free end of the rope and which abuts against the face of the bearing. Although a knotted construction of some sort in disclosed in the FIG. 4 arrangement, that involves an intermediate component part of the overall apparatus and is not associated with the handle construction. These intermediate portions are actually weights and knot 71 is provided to fix the position of these weights to keep them from shifting longitudinally along the rope. The corresponding handle construction provides an overly complex system when it is realized that the primary purpose is simply to allow the rope to turn and twist independently of the handle.
While each of the above-listed patent references may, in a very crude sense, provide a means for the skip rope to turn and twist relative to the handle, none of the construction concepts are believed to be of an inexpensive, conveniently assembled, highly reliable and durable nature. However, each of these various advantages are realized by the teachings of the present invention as will be apparent from the following descriptions.